Last night a friend sent me a text. "Hey man, I don't know if you're available but open mat down at Impact. Come by there will be a good group there." "When? I replied."10am" he said."Cool I'm there." Sunday is my usual long run day but in Atlanta it had been raining all week. Which is pretty rare for the season, but no one who live here for a while said much because we had been on about a decade long drought. That was bad in one sense because it was 4th of July weekend. Everyone in the city had to make do with just going to different events in between the showers scattered throughout the metro area. Running outside is my favorite under normal conditions but in the rain I was not motivated to get out there in the mud. That help me feel better about my going to train Jiu Jitsiu, the gentle art with a few friends instead. I know the training would be good cause my friend said it was a good group out there also. The next morning I wake up and roll out of bed to start getting my stuff together. The gym was about thirty minutes away which in Atlanta terms is kind of far. I didn't mind the drive though. It was mostly a suburban drive with a lot of road side scenery. Lots of strip malls, signs, homes checkered block to block. There were a few curly roads that swept through shopping districts so it was kind of a cool drive. I got a chance to kind of sit back and think to myself before I had to focus on my workout. So I'm riding through the rain and with the radio playing quietly in the background. "Man" I thought to myself, "I better not slack off tomorrow and go for my long run. Awh! That means I going to have to do it on the treadmill." So, then I thought. "Okay it might not be that bad, it is most definitely not going to be as bad as running through the mud a the river that could be over flowing by now. That at least made me feel a little better about postponing the run. So I make it to the gym. Wow!On a Sunday morning church was definitely in Session! Walk in at least 10 people were on the mat training another 10 waiting. So I strip out of my shirt immediately and through my Gi (Kimono) top on. Then walk over and shook the head instructors hand friendly greeted him and fell to the back of the line. The situation they were working was "Taking the Back" a common subject in Jiu Jitsu where one opponent starts on another's back in the seated position. The goal of the opponent in front is to escape to a better position and the other opponent goal is to complete a choke, or joint lock. I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone who trained Jiu Jitsu before how difficult this drill is, but for those of you who haven't had the pleasure to train Jiu Jitsu let me tell you that this is a very tough drill.

"Dang! Ya'll doin' back take drills. Man, I come straight into the frying pan." I joked.

So after 5 or 6 rounds of that we move on to some regular sparring. Sparring in Jiu Jitsu both payers start in a a neutral position on the floor and engage each other by my grips on lapels, sleeves, and pant legs. The roll (fight) progress until one player obtain a dominate position and finish there opponent in a submission hold. Trust me, as rough as that sounds it isn't when done true to the art and displays skill and technique instead of power and boldness. It was amazing that when everyone woke up that morning instead of packing there egos with them, they all packed there thinking caps because everyone was very respectful, and inviting. Upper belts, and lower belts all playing along together without training like it was competition time. I had a very good workout. Afterward The head instructor, my friend, another student who was a Taekwondo instructor who owned a school not to far away from where I live went out and had lunch at a Korean restaurant. We had a great lunch, I order a tofu, and veggie soup. It was very delicious, after that meal we went to star bucks, another favorite place of mine, and all shared thoughts on Jiu Jitsu laughed, talk about the old days of jiu jitsiu, and present day, and the new days to come. We built off of each other and everyone enjoy setting and talking about something that we all loved some much, and that taught us so much about ourselves. But... "All good things must come to an end." After the last of our conversations started to wrap up, we all went our separate ways. Fading into our own individual Jiu jitsu sunset.

"Man, what great workout..."

Last edited by Spyda on Fri Jul 19, 2013 12:29 am, edited 1 time in total.